Faye Dunaway and Marcello Mastroianni co-starred in A Place for Lovers (1968), directed by Vittorio De Sica. The film was shot on location at various locations in Italy, including Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Veneto and Milan.

Written by Julian Zimet, Peter Baldwin, Ennio De Concini, Tonino Guerra and Cesare Zavattini, A Place for Lovers (original title: Amanti) was an adaptation of an Italian play by Brunello Rondi. Julia (Dunaway), an American fashion designer, goes to Venice and falls in love with a dashing Italian engineer, Valerio (Mastroianni). After initially rebuffing his advances, she eventually gives in and the two embark on a torrid affair. Valerio is overwhelmed by Julia and breaks off the relationship, and then learns the real reason why she was so determined to grab everything life could offer - she's terminally ill.

When they appeared together, Mastroianni had long been an international star and Dunaway was the hot actress in Hollywood, thanks to Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Dunaway later wrote in her autobiography that she had seen Mastroianni in Federico Fellini's film 8 ½ (1963) and considered him one of the greatest actors of her time. Because of that, she gave up a role in Paint Your Wagon (1969) "but I thought that this might be my only chance to work with Marcello, and I had to at least give the project serious consideration." During filming, a reporter came on the set and asked Dunaway what it was like to play a love scene with Mastroianni. She told him that actors always fell in love with their co-stars when they were working together. "And that is when I fell in love with Marcello, in a scene early in the movie when the two of us have our first romantic encounter." Although Dunaway had always wanted to avoid romances with her co-stars, she couldn't help herself. Despite Mastroianni being married (although long separated), and the two had to speak in French, since he was not fluent in English, they began a love affair that lasted for two years.

The film was released in Italy on December 19, 1968 and debuted in the United States on August 22, 1969, where neither Dunaway's star status nor two songs by the great Ella Fitzgerald could save it. Roger Ebert, writing for The Chicago Sun-Times dubbed it the "most godawful piece of pseudo-romantic slop I've ever seen! [...] One goes to this movie in the same spirit one visits an ancient town buried by lava centuries ago: To try to determine by examining the ruins what made the gods punish man so."

SOURCES:

Dunaway, Faye Looking for Gatsby
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-place-for-lovers-1969
The Internet Movie Database
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/375/A-Place-for-Lovers/

By Lorraine LoBianco